ADNOC awards Eni and PTTEP Consortium offshore exploration block

Abu Dhabi, December 22 - Neftegaz.RU. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) awarded exploration rights for Abu Dhabi’s Offshore Block 3 to a consortium led by subsidiaries of Italy's Eni and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production Public Company (PTTEP).
The exploration concession agreement was signed by His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Group CEO; Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni; and Phongsthorn Thavisin, CEO of PTTEP.

The award has been approved by Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC).
It follows ADNOC’s award earlier this month of an onshore block to Occidental, highlighting how ADNOC continues to leverage and strengthen its strategic partnerships to accelerate the exploration and development of Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources.

Under the terms of this agreement:

• Eni will operate the exploration phase of the concession,
• PTTEP and Eni will collectively hold a 100% stake in the exploration phase,
• companies investing up to AED1.51 billion ($412 million) towards exploration and appraisal drilling, including a participation fee, to explore for and appraise oil and gas opportunities in Offshore Block 3.

This award underscores the attractiveness of Abu Dhabi’s huge untapped resource potential and ADNOC’s ability to continue to secure foreign direct investment (FDI) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), despite the tough market environment.
Offshore Block 3 offers the potential to create significant in-country value for the UAE over the lifetime of the concession.

Following successful commercial discovery during the exploration phase:

• Eni and PTTEP will, together, have the right to a production concession to develop and produce such commercial discoveries.
• ADNOC has the option to hold a 60% stake in the production phase of the concession. The term of the production phase is 35 years from the commencement of the exploration phase.

Offshore Block 3

Offshore Block 3 covers an offshore area of 11,660 km² northwest of Abu Dhabi city.
New 3D seismic data has been acquired for a part of the block, which, combined with its proximity to the existing onshore oil and gas fields, suggests the concession area has promising potential.
In addition to drilling exploration and appraisal wells, the exploration phase will see Eni and PTTEP leverage and contribute financially and technically to ADNOC’s mega seismic survey, which is already acquiring seismic data within the block area.
This world’s largest 3D seismic survey is deploying industry-leading technologies to capture high-resolution 3D images of the complex geology at ultra-deep locations below the surface and will be used to identify potential hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Сonsortium led by Eni and PTTEP

In January 2019, a consortium led by Eni and PTTEP was awarded 2 offshore blocks in Abu Dhabi’s first competitive bid round.
The consortium continues to explore for oil and gas in the blocks known as Offshore 1 and Offshore 2, located northwest of Abu Dhabi city.
ADNOC launched Abu Dhabi’s second competitive block bid round in 2019, offering a set of major onshore and offshore blocks, on behalf of the SPC.
Based on existing data from detailed petroleum system studies, seismic surveys, exploration and appraisal wells data, estimates suggest the blocks in this 2^nd bid round hold multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion ft³ of natural gas.
This award comes about a month after the SPC announced the discovery of recoverable unconventional oil resources estimated at 22 billion stock tank barrels (STB) and an increase in conventional oil reserves of 2 billion STB which boosted the UAE’s conventional reserves to 107 billion STB.

To read this news in Russian.